Questions & Answers about Ben tamamen mutluyum.
Why is it mutluyum and not mutlu?
Because Turkish often marks “I am …” with a personal ending attached to the adjective.
- mutlu = happy (adjective)
- mutlu-yum = (I am) happy
Here -y- is a buffer sound to connect the vowel u in mutlu to the vowel-starting ending -um/-üm.
So mutluyum literally means “happy + I-am (1st person singular).”
What does -yum mean exactly? Is it the verb “to be”?
Yes—functionally it’s the present-tense form of “to be” for I, but Turkish usually expresses it as an ending, not a separate word.
For adjectives/nouns, Turkish can say “I am X” by adding a copular personal suffix:
- mutluyum = I am happy
- öğretmenim = I am a teacher
- hazırım = I am ready
In many cases you don’t use a separate verb equivalent to English am/is/are in the present.
Why is it tamamen? What part of speech is it, and what else could I use?